It has been fashionable to describe electrochemistry as a discipline at the interface between the branches of chemistry and many other sciences. A perusal of the table of contents will affirm that view. Electrochemistry finds applications in all branches of chemistry as well as in biology, biochemistry, and engineering; electrochemistry gives us batteries and fuel cells, electroplating and electrosynthesis, and a host of industrial and technological applications which are barely touched on in this book. However, I will maintain that electrochemistry is really a branch of physical chemistry. Electrochemistry grew out of the same tradition which gave physics the study of electricity and magnetism. The reputed founders of physical chemistry-Arrhenius, Ostwald, and van't Hoff-made many of their contributions in areas which would now be regarded as electrochemistry. With the post-World War II capture of physical chemistry by chemical physicists, electrochemists have tended to retreat into analytical chemistry, thus defining themselves out of a great tradition. G. N. Lewis defined physical chemistry as "the study of that which is interesting." I hope that the readers of this book will find that electrochemistry qualifies.

The new edition of this classic text offers a comprehensive and accessible introduction to electrochemistry. It assumes a background in chemical thermodynamics and kinetics at the level of a standard undergraduate physical chemistry course, and it is intended for use as a text for a first course in electrochemistry or as a self-study book for chemists and scientists in related fields. The clear and concise text is rich with examples from the literature illustrating theory and electrochemical applications in analytical, organic, inorganic, and organometallic chemistry. Exercises at the end of each chapter extend and amplify this approach. The book contains extensive references to books and monographs, review literature, contemporary examples of electrochemical applications and historically important papers. Extensive discussion of voltammetric methods includes chronoamperometry, chronopotentiometry, cyclic voltammetry and steady-state voltammetric methods. Two chapters are devoted to organic, inorganic and organometallic reactions initiated by oxidation or reduction with electroanalytical methods. Many technological applications of thermodynamics are examined, including batteries and fuel cells, corrosion, electroplating and other metal finishing techniques, reduction of ores and purification of metals, and electrochemical production of inorganic and organic chemicals. Many sections in the new edition have been reworked to improve their clarity and accuracy, and new material has been added on microelectrodes, cyclic voltammetry and organic electrosynthesis. The chapter on the mechanisms of electrode processes now incorporates applications of microelectrode methods and emphasizes thestrenths and limitations of various other voltammetric techniques.